1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a construction for guiding and holding an image recording material such as a photographic printing paper, such that the image recording material is curved in a loop shape and is slack, and in particular, to a guiding and holding construction suitable for a photosensitive material processing apparatus such as a printer processor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printer processors which are photosensitive material processing apparatuses are installed in film printing stores which are called mini-labs. A printer processor is integrally constructed of a printer portion and a processor portion. The printer portion exposes and prints images recorded on a negative film, while the processor portion develops a photographic printing paper which has been printed. An elongated photographic printing paper which is wound in a roll shape is loaded in the printer processor, and the photographic printing paper is automatically conveyed to the printer portion and the processor portion and is processed. The printer portion of the printer processor enlarges images recorded on negative films by a selected, predetermined magnification and prints the resultant images on the photographic printing paper. The photographic printing paper on which the images have been printed are conveyed to the processor portion. The processor portion develops the images on the photographic printing paper as final photographic prints.
In other words, in such a photosensitive material processing apparatus, an elongated photographic printing paper is wound in a roll shape and contained in a light-shielding magazine. Whenever a printing process is performed, the photographic printing paper is pulled out a predetermined length from the magazine.
The photographic printing paper which has been pulled out the predetermined length is nipped and conveyed by a pair of conveying rollers to the printer portion which performs printing processing and exposing processing. Thereafter, the photographic printing paper is conveyed to the processor portion which performs developing processing, bleaching fixing processing, rinsing processing, and thereafter, drying processing.
In such a conventional photosensitive material processing apparatus, a photographic printing paper on which images of a negative film have been printed by an exposure portion of the printer portion is conveyed to the processor portion which performs developing processing. However, there is a time difference between the processing time of the exposure portion and that of the processor portion. To absorb the time difference, a reservoir portion is disposed between the exposure portion and the processor portion.
The reservoir portion temporarily stores the photographic printing paper which has been printed in such a way that the photographic printing paper is curved in a loop shape and is slack. Thus, the reservoir absorbs the time difference between the processing time in which the exposure portion performs printing processing and the processing time in which the processor portion performs developing processing, bleaching/fixing processing, and rinsing processing so that these portions can smoothly perform this series of processes.
However, since conventional reservoir portions stock the conveyed photographic printing paper in a state in which the photographic printing paper hangs down, if the photographic printing paper is long, it will curve and become slack in a plurality of directions rather than in one direction (for example, the photographic printing paper may curl in a spiral). As a result, there are occasions when the photographic printing paper is not properly conveyed to the processor portion. In particular, since the width of a photographic printing paper does not always accord with the size of images, when the width of the photographic printing paper is short, the photographic printing paper is likely to curve and become slack in a plurality of directions, which is a drawback that needs to be addressed.